|
Greta
Thompson
Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center
On the day
after Halloween of 2006, Greta’s mom Linda picked her up from
school. When Greta got into the car, she began to cry. She had a
pain in her right leg that had returned. This pain had occurred
twice before for Greta. Once in August of 2006 after horseback
riding in the mountains of Colorado, Greta had complained about a
pain. Again, in September 2006 the pain appeared after Greta was
jumping on a neighbor’s trampoline all afternoon. Each time the
pain was located in and around her right femur. The pain was
accompanied by a low grade fever, which baffled the parents of this
eight year old little girl. Greta would take Tylenol for the pain
and by the next day the fever and pain were gone.
On that
Halloween night in 2006, Greta dressed up as Dorothy from the Wizard
of Oz and ran around the neighborhood in ruby shoes on the hard
pavement. When her mother picked her up from school the next day
and saw Greta in pain, crying in her car, she knew she had to take
her to pediatrician. The doctor ordered blood tests and an x-ray of
her right leg. After 24 hours, the Thompson’s got the news that
Greta had a tumor on her right femur. Cancer had literally landed
in Greta’s lap.
On November 6,
2006, Greta’s dad’s birthday, the family met Dr. Hugge at Cardinal
Glennon Children’s Medical Center. The next day Greta had a biopsy
done to confirm that her cancer, Ewing’s Sarcoma, was present. The
tumor ended up being 5 inches long.
The storm of
pain that Greta had felt building in her leg was now a cyclone.
When a child is diagnosed with cancer, things move fast. Greta had
a port placed in her chest and began chemotherapy. Greta would
check into “Hotel Cardinal Glennon” every two weeks. By Christmas
of 2006 she had lost all of her chocolate brown hair. Before she
lost her hair, she had it cut off and donated it to the Locks of
Love. After just a few weeks of treatment, she was bald, but the
pain was gone. In January 2007, Greta endured a 7 ½ hour surgery
that removed seven inches of her right femur and a cadaver bone
replaced it. Her body accepted the donor bone and Greta was on the
road to recovery.
Now 11 years
old and in the 6th grade, Greta’s parent Linda and Neal
say that they can’t keep up with the beautiful girl. Greta’s active
in dance and swimming and her parents say she never stops moving
forward with her marvelous energy. Not even a cyclone could stop
her. Greta would gently push it away.
|
